


Stack of Books With Legs

by LeeMorrigan



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond - Fandom, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Bromance, F/M, Friends from the Academy, Gen, Kirk & Bones friendship - Freeform, Snapshots of post BEYOND, moments in time
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-08-27
Packaged: 2019-03-13 11:45:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13569939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeeMorrigan/pseuds/LeeMorrigan
Summary: In the months, and later years, following the events of STB, Kirk, Bones, and Spock go through a lot of changes. Adventures with old classmates, off-the-books weddings among officers, shuttle wrecks, and diplomatic missions ensue.





	1. Trouble in Yorktown

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own STAR TREK or any of the Enterprise crew, I am merely tinkering in Gene Roddenberry's sandbox for a while. Live long and prosper! _\V/

Snapshot A

The humming was beginning to become an irritant. Quinn had always hated constant humming, which probably made her choice to enlist in Starfleet a somewhat questionable move. Granted, she always wanted to travel, to meet new people, and to be around like-minded restless souls. Plus, she had always been good at fighting, reading people, climbing, hiding, tracking, and making plans with little more than blue prints and ten minutes. Security in Starfleet seemed like a pretty natural choice.

Now, working on the somewhat damaged Yorktown space station, she had become quite bored. Out of her skull, bored. Then she figured out that a rear-Admiral was on the take, dealing with a man who was selling hot items to Starfleet for what Starfleet thought was a bargain because the rear-admiral was vouching for the black market dealer.

Quinn had taken these concerns to her superior officer, Rear-Admiral Nyrissa. He had dismissed her and told her to mind her own business. That she was in Security, not Accounting or Legal. She had begun to suspect he was in on Rear-Admiral DelTrusse’s scheme, and such, she was going to go around her superior officer.

“Quinn!”

She smiled. Her back-up had arrived, in the form of one Captain James T. Kirk. Savior of Earth, Captain of the starship Enterprise, survivor of Tarsis, genius of Starfleet academy, beater of the Kobiashi Maru, and one of her closest friends. Quinn had sent him a quick message, asking for his help and explaining not only what she needed it, but why and where to meet her if he wanted in on her investigation.

Coming around the corner of the internal hallway, a thick, soundproof wall between them and a hallway for the primary warehouse, Quinn almost tripped over her own feet. She had known Kirk had been through a meat grinder, she just hadn’t realized how literal that had been when she overheard Bones shouting his report at the head doctor of Yorktown’s medbay.

“I say this with love, but Jim, you look like someone used your face to try out their new meat tenderizer.”

He looked up at her, the whole left side of his face puffy and discolored with an array of bruises, cuts, dermal patches, and popped blood vessels. His lower lip looked a bit fat, as it had after the last fight she dragged him out of, and he was clearly favoring his right knee a little or maybe the right ankle. Somehow, he was still managing a smile. That was Jim.

“Hello to you too, Quinn. You’re welcome for coming on this insane little fact-finding field-trip.”

She walked up to him, an apologetic look on her face.

“I’m sorry. I just… somehow I thought Bones was exaggerating a whole lot more when he was shouting in medbay earlier. I didn’t realize he was actually downplaying injuries, at least in your case.”

Kirk smiled, moving over to nudge her with his shoulder. He was in a plain black T-shirt, pants, and leather jacket to complete the look of a civilian. He had even forgone having his hair styled into place to look professional. The look suited him, even with the bruises.

“So, we gonna go catch your black market guy and this crooked rear-admiral, or are we going to stand here flirting all night?”

She snorted.

“Like you could ever flirt with me, Tiberius.”

The name instantly caused him to scrunch his face up.

“I hate it when you call me that.”

Quinn nudged him, “No you don’t. Come on.”

Without hesitation, he followed her to where a ladder lead way up, to a point that Kirk was sure their gravity would change. His head started spinning, memories of climbing and then flying after Edison, or Krall. Still, Kirk followed his old friend up the ladder. It was certainly better than sitting around in his cabin, going stir crazy while he waited for the medical clearance to do anything else.

After three levels, Quinn had to move aside to work on a security panel, sending Kirk ahead of her while she worked. He had barely made it another level before she was following him again. To distract himself from how tired he was beginning to feel when it came to ladders leading through strange gravitational changes, he began to flirt.

“You just wanted me to go ahead of you so you could stare at my perfectly formed,”, he was cut off.

“Shoes, aye. They are quite nice, Tiberius.”

“We both know you are NOT staring at my shoes.”

“No, I actually hadn’t looked up yet. I’ve been watching the level numbers.”

“Why don’t I believe you?”

“Because your mind is so far in the gutter that Starfleet sends your mail there.”

Using one hand to hold on, he placed the other across his chest and looked down at her.

“I’m hurt that you think so lowly of me, O’Hara.”

The security officer snorted as she climbed to catch up.

“Sure.”

“I’ll have you know I am many things, besides a pervert.”

"Uh-huh. You forget who used to hang out with you and Bones on weekends.", she added as she continued to close the distance between them on the ladder.

"I studied. A lot. I earned my leisure time."

“What was that name your pal Gary used to call you? I forget.”

“Jim, you know, my name.”

She chuckled, shaking her head as she caught up and Kirk resumed climbing steadily ahead of her.

“No, I mean the thing he used to call you every time he caught you spending another Friday night in the library?”

“A stack of books with legs.”

“Well, he did have an eye for legs.”

She hears Kirk’s snort.

“Yes he did. He could spot a pair of great legs from around a corner, on a cloudy night.”

“True. ‘Course, he must’ve have his beer goggles on when he spotted yours.”

“Hey! Keep it up, I might forget why we’re friends and that I like you.”

“Aw naw, you can’t do that. I’m far too annoying and too persistant. I’d remind you.”

“Well, I can’t argue with the ‘annoying’ part.”

Reaching slightly, she gently swatted his ankle.

“Jerk.”

“Remind me, who is climbing through the walls and service shafts, to help you catch a bad guy your boss might be working with?”

She narrowed her eyes at him, despite his being unable to see her. After a few seconds of silence, he added, “Right. Me. Now behave. What level are we stopping at?”

“14.”

They climbed another level closer.

“What will happen if you’re wrong?”

“I get demoted and you tell them I ordered you to help me, since we have the same rank but I’ve got three years seniority on you and you’re not on your ship while here. That’s the story you stick to if I’m wrong and we get caught. You hear me?”

“Yeah, yeah. I hear ya. And if you’re right?”

“I’m sure someone will scream at me then shove me someplace quiet and out of the way, where I can’t cause more trouble, and no one will yell at you for a change.”

She heard his chuckle as they passed another level.

“Hey Quinn.”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for asking me.”

“Sure thing, Cap’n.”

Above her, Kirk chuckled. That might have been one of her favorite sounds she had heard on the Yorktown station. It made her miss the Academy days, studying with Bones and Jim, then going out with them to celebrate good grades. Bones would grouch over something strong enough to put hair on a person’s chest, Jim would disappear to dance with someone, and Quinn would have some tea as she kept an eye on both men. She and Bones always worried someone might slip Jim something, since he had a bad habit of not keeping a watchful eye on his open drink.

“Jim.”

“Yeah.”

“You weren’t the first person who I asked to help me, but… you are the only one who said ‘yes’. Thank you.”

He paused his ascent to turn and look down at her, a small smile on his face.

“You know you just gotta ask, Quinn.”

She smiled up at him.

“Same here, Jim. Ask, and I’d go anywhere.”

He added, “But order you, and you’ll kick me out an air shaft.”

“Well, I was going to say knock you off your feet, but if you prefer an air shaft…”

With a grin, he returned to climbing.

 

Snapshot B

Bones shook his head at his best friend. Jim was a smart man, maybe the smartest person Bones had ever met, human or otherwise. Yet, for all those brains, Jim Kirk could be the stupidest idiot Starfleet ever permitted in a Starfleet uniform.

“You went digging around in the service shafts, at two in the morning, with Quinn on some wild goose chase after a black market smuggler! Jim, are in you insane? Do I need to certify you and have an armed guard keeping you in your room when you’re on convalescent leave?”

Jim turned to him, slightly less bruised now that a few days had gone by since they had taken down Krall and been debriefed over it. However, he now was sporting a fresh cut overtop his left eyebrow thanks to a fight he got into with the one smuggler’s thug when he and Quinn were discovered. Worse, they had been discovered because Jim had an attack of dizziness from his still-healing injuries and he had nearly fallen off a high-up platform. Only Quinn’s quick reflexes had saved Jim from becoming a grease spot.

The turbolift brought them to the bridge, as it was nearly repaired. They had already checked the Medbay, which was Jim’s official excuse for dragging Bones along with him. Truth be told, Bones was pretty sure Jim just wanted some company and knew Spock was off with Uhura to enjoy a little privacy before they had to spend the remainder of their 5-year mission, in close quarters with the entire crew. Which left Bones, who had been busy consuming a bottle of scotch waiting for the farmer’s market to open so he could hopefully luck into some fresh peaches. Even if they weren’t from Georgia.

“I still can’t believe you managed to get into a fight, during convalescent leave, on a space station.”

Jim, the charming bastard, grinned.

“I helped bust an illegal smuggling ring, Bones. I would expect more pride.”

“Clearly you have taken a few too many shots to the head, if you expected that response.”

The grin grew. Bones wanted to punch him, repeatedly, then hypo him into oblivion. Possibly in that order.

The doors opened to reveal a mostly-complete renovation of the bridge. The seats had changed shape slightly, to be a bit more square looking and a little less like plastic hammocks. The controls were a bit more brightly colored, at least to Bones’s eyes now used to seeing the real world and not the gleaming white of the Enterprise.

Then, before Bones could make any wisecracks about it still looking like a shiny, plastic death trap, he saw that they were not alone. Standing by the position that once would have belonged to ‘Cupcake’, before the man took a transfer in order to marry his long-time girlfriend and be able to settle down with her, was Quinn O’Hara. In her security-red, black uniform slacks, and at attention.

“Quinn?”, Bones questioned.

She turned her head slightly and smiled. He almost missed the head turn, it was so subtle.

“I’ve been given new orders.”, she answered.

“And a new rank.”, Kirk interjected as he motioned towards the arm bars on the sleeves of her tunic. Bones realized that Jim was right. When they bumped into her, as she had been heading into her disciplinary meeting, her arm bars had been equal to Jim’s and above Bones’s. She sighed, tugging at the left sleeve cuff.

“Aye, I’m just a Lieutenant Commander, now. At least I won’t be at Yorktown anymore, to deal so frequently with those who now outrank me rather than the other way ‘round.”

Jim nodded.

“Where to?”

She grinned, almost to match the one Jim had been displaying earlier. Bones had a feeling he knew what her answer was going to be.

“The demotion was _my_ punishment, my transfer is _yours_.”

Bones looked between the two, a bit confused.

“But you were right, there was a smuggler and some rear-admiral was covering for him in return for a cut? Why are you being transferred and demoted for exposing them?”

Kirk answered, “Because she also thought her superior officer was involved when he didn’t take her seriously and open an investigation.”

Quinn added, “ _And_ it turned out that he was working on his own, very quiet, investigation that I ruined by loudly catching the smuggler in my own off-the-books, unsanctioned investigation.”

Bones nodded.

“That’ll do it. Bureaucrats.”

Kirk nodded.

“Well I guess I’m your new Chief Security Officer. Lt.Com.Quinn O’Hara, at your service Captain.”

Jim shook his head and Bones groaned as he let his head fall into his hands. ‘Great’, he thought, ‘now I have two of them to worry about.’

“Well, welcome aboard. You ready to travel into deep space, where no other Earthlings have ventured, encountering who knows what kind of dangers?”

Quinn’s whole face lit up.

“Yes, sir.”

Jim waved her off.

“Knock it off, it’s almost as weird as when Bones says it.”

“That’s because I say it mockingly, _Captain_.”

Quinn chuckled behind her hand as Kirk groaned, then turned to start a fresh argument with his best and oldest friend. These men had been her closest friends at the academy, and it seemed that saving the world a few times, nearly dying a whole lot of times, and everything else that had happened since then, had done nothing to dim that friendship. Quinn was glad to see it.

Stepping forward, she interrupted their argument, “Gentlemen, should we look around and make sure everything is in order before there’s any bloodshed on the new carpets?”

Jim smiled, Bones huffed. Some things never changed. Kirk turned to her, gesturing like a tour guide.

“Allow me, Ms.O’Hara, to give you the 25 cent tour of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Watch your step, keep your hands and arms inside the vehicle, and remember to tip your guide on the way out.”

Groaning, Bones griped, "Save me, years out in space, with the both of you. I'm going to die a white-haired old man before I'm 50."

Quinn chuckled at their antics, inserting her hand into the crook of Jim's left elbow, then repeating the action with Bones’s right arm. Despite his grouchy reputation, Bones smiled and shook his head, allowing her to drag him along as they followed Kirk’s tour of his beloved Enterprise. Quinn could not wait to begin this new adventure with her two best friends.


	2. James Atlas Kirk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An away-mission goes to heck in a handbasket, and later, Kirk spends some time in medbay with Bones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own STAR TREK (or else, we would have BEYOND's sequel by now!), just Quinn O'Hara and any other assorted original characters, places, and ships. Please enjoy, and thank you for reading!

Snapshot A

Before they left the Enterprise, Quinn had a bad feeling. No. A very bad feeling, that this mission was going to go to Hades in a handbasket. Taking a deep breath, she readied her phaser and dove out from behind her cover, firing towards the enemy. Judging by the screech she heard just before she got behind another lemon-colored boulder, she must have hit someone.

“So, regretting your unsanctioned investigation yet?”, Kirk asked as he checked the power level on his own phaser. They were providing cover and distraction while Spock and Quinn’s right-hand-man, Adams, lead the away team and the injured civilians to the rendezvous point. And they needed to keep these mercenaries busy for at least another twenty minutes.

“Nah, just wishing I packed some sun screen and a fan, to enjoy this luxury vacation.”

She raised up, firing three shots before returning to her crouched position by Kirk. He smirked, then moved to look around the edge of the boulder, cursing under his breath when he got a look.

“That good, eh?”

He sighed as he laid his back against the rock.

“I swear, I think they multiplied when we shot them.”

“Great, we’re fighting the Space-Hydra.”

He looked over at her.

“Please, you’re starting to sound like Bones.”

“Oh please, I complain much more sarcastically than he does.”

She raised up, firing one shot and hearing a scream to let her know she had once more hit her mark.

“Well, that’s one down and what, 38 to go?”

“39.”

She ducked to the side, firing twice and hearing more screaming as well as Kirk’s phaser. When they came back, she sighed.

“ _36_.”

“Do you have a backup cell?”

Quinn nodded, reaching into her small pack and retrieving one for Kirk. He quickly slid the old one from his weapon, handing it over to her and then placing the new one into his phaser. Quinn placed the depleted one in her pack, praying they didn’t need another round. She had just replaced hers before rushing to Kirk’s side and he had taken her spare back-up.

“I think our next mission should be somewhere that hasn’t invented weapons yet, or moved beyond the violent phase of cultural development.”

He nodded.

“We could visit New Vulcan.”

“Spock will be thrilled.”

“Uhura will make us all learn Vulcan phrases.”

Kirk groaned.

“On second thought, let’s visit the Klingons.”

They ducked further down, almost forming a ball, as another volley was fired. Once they felt the rock they had been against warming up, Kirk began a small growl and then grabbed Quinn’s hand to drag her along. With all the shooting of their phaser-like weapons, it was very hard to hear what Kirk was saying, so Quinn followed him, firing three shots towards their enemy to try to lessen the barrage.

Kirk gave her hand one last tug and she fell over the edge of something, sailing into the air. For a second, she was weightless. Then gravity returned with a vengeance as she was slammed into Kirk’s back, bouncing off, and ricocheting into a muddy wall. They had landed in a muddy spot on the hillside below where they had been firing.

Kirk stood and looked up in the direction they had fled from. Quinn pulled herself out of the mud and stood, working to get her feet back under her. Kirk didn’t appear hurt, despite her landing on him and using him like a trampoline.

“Now what?”, she asked.

Kirk’s eyes widened and suddenly Quinn could hear shouts from above.

“Run!”

She followed Kirk, running as fast as she could and getting further behind him. There had been a reason Kirk practiced with members of the track team and she had stuck to sparring in a closed ring. Once he realized he had gotten so far ahead, he did the Kirk thing. He stopped. Then turned and shouted for her to run faster as he fired over her head, taking out the first three people in the pack following them.

They continued to run that way, with him getting ahead then stopping to offer cover as Quinn caught up. Finally, they reached another cliff but this one dropped down about 50-60 stories and ended on jagged rocks. They couldn’t jump this one.

“You think they got beamed up safely?”, Quinn asked.

“I’m sure of it.”

“Good. Alright, follow me.”

She moved to the edge and began the descent, hoping that the jagged outcroppings would conceal them a bit and also make it unreasonable to think they had climbed, so perhaps they would not be pursued. Kirk followed. Then a couple minutes later, she heard a rock fall. Looking up, she saw the edge of one of the mercenary’s cloaks. He was following them down.

“We’ve got company.”

“I know. Keep climbing.”

She worked to climb faster, thanking her lucky stars that rock climbing had been a hobby of hers back on Earth. They had made it about a third of the way when she saw it. Kirk was surrounded by the swirling, glittering energy of the transporter. Glancing, she could see her own hands shared the look. A breath later, she and Kirk were materializing in the transporter room. Kirk looked directly over to her, worry bright in his eyes.

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah. You?”

He nodded. Then turned his attention to Scotty, who sat at the controls, letting out a slow breath. It must have been a close call, or the Scotsman would have been proudly boasting about getting them out of a jam, just in the nick of time. More than 75% of the planet had mineral deposits that interfered with the Transporter, which was why there had been a specific spot Spock needed to get everyone to for them to be brought back to the Enterprise.

“Scotty, the away party?”

“All accounted for and being looked after by Spock and Dr.McCoy. Uhura is translating for the few natives who need it.”

Kirk nodded and Quinn swore she saw the weight of that worry coming off her friend’s shoulders. His parents should have named him James Atlas Kirk, with all that he bore upon those shoulders. Patting his arm, she smiled and teased him.

“Come on, Cap’n. Let’s check on everybody and then I’ll buy you a drink.”

He grinned up at her.

“Sounds like a deal.”, he grinned. "Your place or mine?"

She shrugged.

"Yours. My neighbors are still fighting."

Jim nodded, "Maybe I should change their shifts, make them see less of each other for a month or so, let absence make the heart grow fonder."

Quinn made a face as if about to gag, then shook her head.

"Please, no? Then they'll have to make-up, and trust me, I'd rather listen to them fight."

Barking a laugh, Jim wrapped an arm around Quinn's shoulders, smiling wide enough for her to almost see his molars.

"That's my Quinn."

Snapshot B

Leonard felt along Jim’s ribs, making sure for himself that they were healing. He had cracked two on the most-recent mission. So soon after busting himself up on that away mission that resulted in evacuating the locals and then sending Jim and Quinn running through a technicolor jungle as a distraction, Leonard wished Jim hadn’t been required on this mission. Neither he or Quinn were 100% from that last mission and here they were, back in sickbay, because an away mission had beaten them up.

“Well?”

“You’ll live.”

“ _I knew that_ , I meant can I go back to work?”

“Tomorrow, and if you argue, I’m adding two days.”

“Fine. Fine.”

Jim pulled his shirt back on, before reaching for his golden tunic, hissing as he twisted the wrong way. Leonard handed the tunic to Jim, raising an eyebrow at his friend. The narrowed eyed and set jaw told him that his message of, ‘See my point’ had not been missed.

“How’s T’lylee?”

“He’ll be back to work in three more days, I’ll permit away-missions another week after that. He tore that third ankle up pretty badly and the fourth one is still tender from his accident in the sparring ring.”

Nodding, Jim began pulling his tunic on, then let out a slow breath. Clearly those ribs were bothering him a bit more than he wanted to admit. Especially to Leonard.

“And Quinn?”

Leonard smiled. He had figured that was the only reason Jim hadn’t argued about coming down to have his ribs checked out. He wanted a personal report on T’lylee and Quinn.

“She can go back to her room now. Chapel was just helping her get her shoes on. She’ll need to use a crutch for a couple days, until the bone is solid again. Then I’d give her another couple days before she returns to full-duty, and a little while more before sparring, missions, and the like.”

“That’s good to hear.”

“You did the right thing, immobilizing it and having her walk between you and Spock as you made your way through those caves. Otherwise she might have done some nerve damage and I might have had to get a bit more creative, and she would definitely be out of commission for a while. Mending broken bones is a whole lot easier than fixing nerve damage.”

He nodded. Leonard was sometimes still amazed that the kid with the bruised face and blood-stained shirt whom he threatened to throw up on, had become the serious, courageous, and fiercely protective Captain Leonard knew today. In some ways, the two had seemed like totally different people. Other times, Leonard felt it had been a matter of people not looking past the bravado and playboy persona, to see the loyal, scrappy heart beneath.

“Jim, do me a favor?”

“Sure Bones, what’d’ya need?”

Jim slid off the exam table, looking Leonard directly in the eye. Tired, bruised, and a decade older, yet he still looked like that guy who munched noisily on an apple while beating the pants off the Kobayashi Maru.

“Can we take a shore leave, or dock to resupply and get a little once-over on the Enterprise? Anything to give this crew, and yourself, a couple days of peace where no one will try to kill, kidnap, maim, or mutilate any of the crew?”

Letting out a sigh, Jim nodded.

“We’re due to restock on medical supplies and a few other things. With all the injuries we’ve had lately, I doubt anyone would say a word about us resupplying a couple weeks early. Besides, we aren’t too far from Starfleet’s new station, in the Bahran system. I think it’s on a moon. Might be lovely this time of the year.”

Leonard scoffed, rolling his eyes. Then he felt a warm hand clap over his bicep, and he looked up to a pair of bright, tired eyes.

“Don’t worry, Bones. Just tell me the temperature of the crew and I’ll do what I can to keep them from getting crispy.”

Leonard nodded.

“I don’t want anyone to burn out, Jim. Least of all you.”

His friend, and captain, smiled. It was the brighter one reserved for friends.

“Thanks, Bones. Alright, I’m going to go check on T’lylee and then bug Quinn for a couple minutes before I head to my quarters.”

Leonard nodded, offering a small smile of his own.

“Don’t sneak T’Lylee any liquor, I don’t want it mixing with his meds!”

Jim waved over his shoulder, still smiling as he walked off to leave medbay. Leonard just shook his head, then turned back to his medbay. Aside from T’lylee and Quinn, it was thankfully empty and quiet. And if Jim was able to get the resupply approved and scheduled, he could expect his medbay to remain quiet and empty.

Back at his desk, Leonard pulled up the day’s files to make entries about Jim, T’lylee, and Quinn in their respective charts, to double-check the supplies used, to double-check the dates on the medicines they had in stock, and to begin a report for Jim about what supplies they needed, prioritized and soon to be ready for Jim’s signature. Leonard could almost smell the good scotch he would enjoy in a bar, while on the shore leave. Or a whiskey. Or maybe, if he were very lucky and they had the ingredients, a mint julep. He hadn’t had one of those since the last time they had been on Earth. Leonard smiled. Yes, shore leave would be just the thing they all needed.


	3. Peculiar Confessions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kirk, Bones, Quinn, Scotty, and a few others on an away party are stranded. Spock, Uhura, Chekov, and the others are left aboard the Enterprise, trying to save the day. Then later, Spock recalls a conversation with Jim and Leonard that still leaves him somewhat chilled to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Unfortunately, I still do not own the STAR TREK franchise (if I did, we'd be on the 5th or 6th Kelvin Timeline movie by now & Pike would still be alive), only Quinn O'Hara and other assorted original characters, races, planets, ships, etc. This chapter was mostly inspired by my watching THE FINAL FRONTIER recently.

**Snapshot A**

Spock did not find this situation to be at all a desirable one. Quite the opposite. His Captain was on a planet, with the Chief Medical Officer, Chief Security Officer, Chief Engineer, and a team that included two nurses and seven security personnel, and they were all lost to the Enterprise’s scanners, in a subterranean labyrinth, pursued by creatures of great strength, size, aggression, and who were known cannibals. They were able to get intermittent, static-laden transmissions from the team as they ran.

No. This was not ideal. Or acceptable. Spock looked over to where Uhura and Chekov were trying to get the comms to work better, in order to penetrate the minerals in the planet’s outermost layer or strata. If they could get the communications to work, they could direct the team to a location Lt.Chekov had determined they could beam from. Until then, Spock and most of the rest of the bridge had no choice, but to sit silently and wait. To hope for the best. Spock did not care for it.

“Lieutenant, have you been able to lock onto the away team?”, he asked.

“Not yet, sir.”

Spock decided, at that moment, he would not permit Lt.Com.Scott and the Captain to go together, on missions. Spock wanted all the best minds of the Enterprise sitting there, helping him get their Captain back. Rather than leaving it to the young shoulders of Chekov, to save everyone.

Chekov began shouting in Russian, hastening back to his regular station to type furiously into the datapad at his post, before running out of the bridge. Uhura, skilled linguist that she was, turned to explain to the bridge crew.

“He figured out how to get them safe, even if we can’t beam them up, for now. He can disrupt the gizmos the cannibals are using to track the team. It should buy us more time to get to them, and allow them a little slack.”

Spock nodded. Standing, he moved to stand beside Uhura, on the pretense of looking over whatever calculations Chekov had just left behind. In truth, while he did look at them and commit them to memory, he wanted to speak to Uhura privately. Making sure his voice would not be overheard, he spoke lowly into her ear as he looked over Chekov’s calculations.

“How long will his interference work?”

“Two, maybe three hours. Then the planet’s atmosphere starts making things tricky. There’s a mineral down there that we’ve never encountered at Starfleet, and we can’t find it in any database so far. I’m still combing through with the computer, we could find it. Anderson and Noah are looking for another way to get the team out. Stylvch is trying to rig up a sensor to send in the opposite end of the tunnels, and try to find the team, then have it lead the team to where we can retrieve them with a pair of shuttles.”

Spock nodded. Two back up plans.

“We must bring them home.”

He pretended not to notice Nyota’s eyes widen slightly at his slip. She had brought this same slip to Spock’s attention, nearly two years ago. He had denied it, explaining that he meant it more in the ‘home base’ sense and not in the sense that would indicate a special bond or attachment. Nyota pretended she was fooled.

“We’ll get them back.”

“Thank you.”

She smiled, then turned back to her own work, giving it her full focus. Spock turned around, halfway back to the command chair before they heard it. The crackle over the comms, indicating the away party was trying to communicate again. It was Quinn’s voice.

“Enterprise! Enterprise! Do you copy?”

“Yes, Miss Quinn. Sit rep?”

“Spock, we’ve got three serious wounded, two minor- no one is likely. It seems our hunters have lost our trail, for the moment.”

“Chekov disrupted their tracking capabilities. It is temporary.”

“Of course.”, she muttered. “In that case, how long do we have?”

“Two hours, three at most.”

“Great. Ensign C’yere thinks we should follow a track of water she can hear beneath the stone we’re walking on. She says it has to get us out of here eventually.”

“I will send this to Chekov. Perhaps he can better pinpoint your location, by following the water. Then we can have transport waiting for you when you surface.”

“Good deal. And Spock?”

“Yes?”, he asked, hardly daring to guess the meaning behind the barely-detectable shift in her tone.

“Tell M’Benga to have a table prepped for Jim. Bones is holding him together for now. He’s gonna need surgery once we’re back.”

“Of course.”

“Quinn out.”

Spock looked over at Uhura, she nodded, transferring the message to M’Benga. Meanwhile, Spock was relaying the information about the water to Chekov. Waterways were not plentiful on the planet, especially not at the depth where the away team should have been able to hear it. That would narrow things down considerably. Now, they had but to wait for Chekov to figure out where their people were, then they could send down the shuttles and get everyone back to the Enterprise.

**Snapshot B**

Over an hour after Quinn’s transmission, they had been able to send the probe down to the surface via one of the two shuttles sent to the planet. The probe, guided by Chekov’s calculations, had been able to find the team within another 45 minutes. It led them to where the shuttles awaited, the team barely escaping before Chekov’s jamming of the trackers, would have ceased to function.

When the team arrived back on the Enterprise, two of the three seriously injured had broken bones while running in the dark, twisting, narrow tunnels and while one of the lesser injuries had been one of the two nurses when he had tripped over the bones of a previous meal the cannibals had enjoyed down there. Jim, by far, was the most seriously injured of the lot. He had dived in the way of a shot meant for Bones, taking a metal spear to the chest. Quinn had also been injured, having dislocated her shoulder when she was climbing up with the injured nurse, and the man fell, with Quinn’s quick reflexes allowing her to catch his wrist. His weight pulling at her arm dislodged it from the socket, yet she held strong. She also had a nasty cut on her forehead from shoving Kirk out of the way of another spear, a few seconds before he did the same for Bones.

Now, Spock sat outside the medbay awaiting news of Kirk’s surgery. Bones, despite how tired and drained the man was, had insisted on assisting M’Benga in treating Jim. Spock had not been able to make himself object. Dr.McCoy was, without a doubt, the finest doctor in Starfleet. He would not permit any lesser doctor to be responsible for Jim’s safety and wellbeing.

On the other side of the little hall, between McCoy’s office and the operating room, Quinn paced. To Spock’s side, returning to the office door, then back. Repeating, over and over. Her eyes seemed unfocused, her left arm in a sling with the fingers peaking out bruised and slightly swollen, her forehead covered with a stark white bandage, her clothes ruined, and her gait uneven due to a slight favoring of her right knee. Soon, diagnosing her and observing her wore thin and Spock stopped her.

“Miss Quinn.”

She froze, then looked up at him as if suddenly recalling he was in the hall with her. Perhaps she had forgotten. She was preoccupied and he had been still, and silent.

“Pacing will not make the time pass more quickly.”

“No, but it does help me not bang on the door every 70 seconds for an update.”

“That would not speed things up, nor improve the doctors’ efficiency in treating Jim’s injuries.”

“Don’t you think I know that?”

He arched an eyebrow at her. While Quinn enjoyed an easy comradery with the Captain and Doctor McCoy, often calling them by their first names or nicknames, she and Spock had mostly remained quite formal. Uhura and Quinn were less formal, although Uhura and Quinn had no become the fast friends Spock had half-expected them to be. It seemed Uhura found the other woman a bit too brash and carefree while Quinn felt too ill at ease with Uhura as she confessed to McCoy, unaware that Spock had been near enough to overhear, that she felt she had nothing to talk about with Uhura in order to strike up or maintain a decent conversation.

“Miss Quinn,”, he started.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap, sir.”

Spock shook his head.

“I think, under present circumstances, you may, to quote the Captain, ‘drop the sir’.”

She nodded.

“As I was about to say, I’m sure that Jim will be fine. You said yourself, no one was likely to die from their injuries.”

Quinn nodded.

“Jim was the worst off, and he couldn’t die.”

Spock arched an eyebrow, finding the very inaccurate statement odd, coming from Quinn. She was not one given to silly, impossible statements. At least, not outside of joking with Jim and Leonard.

“Explain.”

Signing deeply enough to make her seem half an inch shorter and almost deflated, she offered a tired smile. She sank to the floor in a heap, before answering.

“On a mission, right after I got assigned here, Jim got a fever from some plant. Anyone with his blood type got that fever, so as Bones and I were looking after him, he reminded Bones to stop worrying, that he couldn’t die. Bones explained, after Jim had mostly recovered and was sleeping peacefully, that Jim had confessed something peculiar to Len, back at the academy.”

“Peculiar?”

She nodded, then let her head fall back, her eyes sliding closed. For a moment, Spock thought she might have fallen asleep on the spot.

“He told Len that he’d known, for as long as he could remember, that he would die alone.”

Looking up, her eyes shone slightly with tears Spock was sure would not be permitted to fall. Letting out a noise that was somewhere between a choke and a scoff, she continued.

“Isn’t that the oddest thing to know?”

Quinn shook her head, then let it fall back against the wall with a thud. She cast her eyes to the ceiling as Spock felt himself waiting for her next statement. One he knew would come, and would clarify her earlier comment.

“After they got assigned to the Enterprise permanently, Jim had gotten in a pretty tight spot, but you and Bones got him out. You saved him, as he knew you would.”

Now Spock knew what she was referring to. In fact, he remembered the incident with great clarity. As he had been piloting them back to the Enterprise, Leonard had been berating Jim in the back, while Jim sat in his chair, smiling slightly. When Leonard had finally stopped for a breath, Jim had explained what had been so simple in his mind, as to why he had not died back there the way Leonard had been sure should have happened if not for Jim’s inherent skill in cheating death.

“I knew I wouldn’t die, because the two of you were with me.”

At the time, Spock had been confused by the statement, inquiring, “I do not understand.”

Leonard had muttered something Spock never did catch, while Jim answered Spock’s question, “I’ve always known. I’ll die alone.”, before springing up to come join Spock up front. “So you see, as long as I’ve got the two of you around, I can’t die.”

Now, sitting across from Quinn, Spock wondered if perhaps Jim put a bit too much faith in his sense he would die alone. That, owing to the presence of others, he believed himself somewhat invulnerable, even if only on an unconscious level. Taking chances he should not otherwise have taken. Granted, the Captain was the kind who would have jumped, knowing it would kill him, if it meant saving the life of another. The events surrounding Khan and San Francisco proved that. Then again, with Krull and any one of dozens of other threats over the years.

Just then, the door opened, the hiss breaking the tension left in the wake of recalling Jim’s morbid proclamation echoing in their minds. There, in the door, stood a very drained but calm Doctor McCoy. He smiled at them both.

“He’s going to be fine. He should wake up in a few minutes, then I’ll keep him for a couple more days, just to monitor things.”

Quinn spoke first, “May I see him?”

Leonard nodded. Quinn sprung up so fast, Spock was tempted to check for a catapult beneath where she had been seated. Once she was gone, Leonard addressed Spock.

“That kid is… Idiot dove in the way to protect me.”

Spock nodded.

“One of these days, he’s going to do something stupid and heroic, and I’m not going to be able to fix him.”

“On the contrary, Doctor. As long as he has you, he cannot die.”

Leonard let out a huff, growling under his breath as he headed to his office. Spock moved to peak into the medbay for a moment, seeing Quinn perched on a high stool, looking down at Jim. Spock was not blind. It was the same look Uhura wore when she was worried about Spock, as he recovered from an injury. He only hoped that when Jim woke, he would catch the glimpse and do something about it. Neither deserved to be alone.

Moving away, Spock went to go share the news with the crew. Everyone had been waiting, on edge, for news of the beloved Captain. His manner had won over the entire crew, working his way into their hearts until they were ready to do the impossible without a thought of hesitation, for their Captain. However, as Spock moved to the panel where he could address the crew, he could not help but hear the echo of a conversation held nearly a decade ago.

Flipping the comm on, he addressed the crew. As expected, the moment they knew Jim would survive, intact and soon to return to his chair on the bridge, a cheer erupted that could be felt through the walls of the ship and the speakers of the panel. As there were no witnesses, Spock permitted himself a very small, subtle smile.


	4. Born in the Black

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jim deals with two very different away missions. A diplomatic one, negotiating between a highly technologically minded race and a more homespun race on the nearby moon, with Spock and the rest of the away team. The second one that leaves him writing letters home to inform families and then going to a bar to pick up his best friend, only for his best friend to save him- just like Bones always does.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while since I posted on this title, sorry. This chapter is a little longer, so hopefully that makes up for it to anyone who might have been waiting. Lots of Bones in this one, a good deal of Spock, some Uhura, and a chunk of Quinn in the first half.  
> I still do not own Star Trek (and if I did, Pike would be cheering Jim on from the sidelines, in the 6th Trek movie by now), or the characters owned by Gene Roddenberry. Only Quinn, I'errah, other original characters, locations, races, and religions are mine.  
> Please enjoy! Live Long & Prosper!  
> PS: There is a bit of drunken rumination in the second part, so if you have trouble with drunken scenes or with death, please be mindful.

Snapshot A

The whole village was mostly quiet, except for some light music filtering down through the main street. Jim allowed himself to walk a bit slower, enjoying the peace. He had been stuck working on negotiations between, as Bones dubbed them, ‘Nano-jerks’ and ‘moon hippies’. The Pastrayn people and the Ti’rane people had lived as comfortable neighbors until 4 years ago when they broke into a war. Their shared neighbors, the Harrorane, asked the Federation to intervene, then talked the Pastrayn and the Ti’rane peoples into agreeing to it.

The Pastrayn were natives to the large planet below, highly militarized, highly reliant on technology that was mostly based off nanites. They had even gotten to the point where their blood had nanites in it, repairing injuries and fighting off illness. Since they began implanting nanites, seven generations ago, the life expectancy had doubled. And they wanted to take over the two moons, Ti’la and Ti’kae, where the Ti’rane lived, believing that the Ti’rane were lazy and needed the Pastrayn’s help to develop into a worthwhile civilization.

The Ti’rane, on the other hand, were a peaceful group who were a bit like the Amish back on Earth. They were deeply religious, they used what was very low-tech by Federation and Pastrayn standards, and they were very focused on using plants and food to heal rather than technology. However, while the Pastrayn wanted to make the Ti’rane be more like them, the Ti’rane were proponents of tolerance and acceptance. They believed that there was a greater destiny for all living beings and it required them to each live their lives fully and diversely. They did not want to be taken in or changed by the Pastrayn, they simply wanted to be left alone.

The Harrorane lived on a third moon, one that’s rotation pattern kept it on the other side of the homeworld Kierayn. They were the least human-looking of the bunch, considering entering the Federation, and they were a race of artists and thinkers. With four legs that moved like a spider’s, long and slender bodies, four eyes, and long arms, they reminded Jim of a praying mantis. A thought he mostly kept to himself. They embraced technology, though stopped shy of putting nanites in their own bodies as they feared someone hacking the nanites and stealing their free will. They were the ones Jim found he most-easily understood their thinking.

Eight days ago, Jim, Spock, Uhura, Quinn, seven members of Quinn’s security team, and Uhura’s new protégé, had beamed down to the Harrorane’s home moon of Kallane, with a group of the Harrorane waiting to show them the quarters they had set aside for the visiting members of the Federation. Spock and Uhura had been appointed to work with the Patrayn while Kirk and Uhura’s protégé, Lt.Jasmine Ahktar, would be working with the Ti’rane. Quinn and three members of security team, had been staying with Spock and Uhura during the negotiations while her right-hand-man, Lt.Azeem Viziri, lead the other three security team members to look after Kirk and Lt.Ahktar. In the evenings, they all retired to the six small houses that the Harrorane allotted them.

When Jim came past the first house that had Lt.Viziri and his team; Kelly O’Hearn, Robert Dullas, and Yolanda Washington, Jim noticed the four were sitting on the back deck area. Lt.Viziri was playing a game of checkers with O’Hearn, Dullas was laying on the ground with a smile as he stared up at the stars, while Washington was attempting to join the Harrorane’s music, with her harmonica. She was doing a good job, so when she looked over at Jim, he smiled and gave her a thumbs up for encouragement. She smiled then returned to her playing. He always worried that his crew would cut down on the fun they were having, once caught by him.

At the next building, housing Lt.Ahktar and her team; I’errah, Samantha Darrow, and Calvin Drake, they were all inside. From what Jim could see through the small window, Lt.Ahktar appeared to be drawing at a table, I’errah was meditating, Darrow was leaned against an open door apparently listening to the music, and Drake was already turned in for the night. It seemed a peaceful cabin. Jim moved on, passing three more that housed the chief families among the capital city they were staying in. The next house, slightly smaller than what his men were staying in up the street, was the one set aside for Spock and Uhura.

The Harroranes, when communicating with Jim and Uhura before the team beamed down, specifically asked if there were any couples or other romantic/sexual groupings, within the away team. Uhura had asked, and the Harroranes explained that, shoulder there be any couples, they would like to make arrangements for the couples to bed down together. That had meant Spock and Uhura were automatically to be housed together, Jim and Quinn were to be housed together, and Lt.Ahktar would be housed with Darrow, by Harrorane-custom. Bones had grouched about it likely being another hippie planet, full of free love and sex parties. Uhura and Jim had a good chuckle at him before Uhura relayed the information.

At present, Uhura was sitting outside to listen to the music with a mug of something warm in her hands. Spock was inside, and without seeing him or needing to ask Uhura, Jim knew his first officer was meditating. He had admitted to Jim, on the third day of negotiations, that working with these Patrayn diplomats had required a lot of calming meditations. Jim had been using hot showers right before bed, to knock himself out, as his relief after a day spent dealing with the Ti’rane diplomats.

Uhura nodded to Jim, a small smile coming to her face. Despite the shaky start, they had become very good friends and Jim couldn’t imagine not having her around. And not just because of the influence she had on Spock. She was good for the whole crew, even making Bones laugh on a bad day, and she was good at talking to Jim like he was her classmate and not her captain. As more and more of his crew on board were ones who had either graduated after him or who had come to join his crew after the Yorktown attack, he found more and more of them treated him like the principle or den mother, walking in and ending the party in a snap. It was good to have Uhura and the others around who still saw Jim Kirk, not The Captain.

Another house separated Spock and Uhura’s abode from the one Jim was sharing with Quinn. Technically, he and Quinn weren’t sleeping together back on the Enterprise. However, the Harrorane people did not seem to understand that when Uhura had tried to get a second bed for Jim and Quinn’s quarters. Quinn had stopped her, saying that it was fine and she didn’t mind, then had told Jim to wipe the grin off his face as she walked into the room, behind their guide. Inside, Jim could hear Quinn using the small shower. It was not designed for a human, as only Horrane-children showered. Adults bathed in a hot-tub looking thing. Quinn had said she would make do with the shower, as she admitted she felt a little weird about using someone else’s bath. Jim didn’t blame her and also was scrunching into the shower every evening.

The bed was turned down, his sleep pants laid out for him on the corner, and Quinn’s tablet lay nearby, with what looked like a game of Mahjong Tiles. Sometimes he swore that Quinn had some latent telepathic abilities. Everything he needed to keep busy and work out some of the stress from dealing with theTi’rane diplomats.

A few minutes later, Quinn came out in an old scarlet T-shirt bearing her high school mascot and a pair of black leggings. This, Jim knew for a fact, was what she slept in when she might have to leave her bed at a moment’s notice. It almost looked like a casual version of her work attire, minus some sturdy shoes. The wet hair and sway of her hips as she moved to the Harroranian music, were driving Jim a little nuts.

She smiled when she looked up to meet his gaze. He had known her over a decade and he still sometimes forgot how green her Irish eyes were and how quickly she smiled. But she was right, red wasn’t her color even when she changed the shade, as it brought out her dark circles under those green eyes.

“Your turn for the shower.”

He sighed, almost too tired for it. It was days like this that made him feel every adventure and injury of the past nine years. Most would think it was the days when he was being shot at or when someone was trying to cut his head off with some sword-like thing, that would make him ache and leave him weary in his bed afterwards. It was the peaceful missions that got him. All the diplomacy and political chess matches he had to recognize around him and deal with appropriately.

He dragged himself up, shuffling to the bathroom. As he passed Quinn, she teasingly patted his butt and shot him a smile as she went to finish his game of tiles. He smiled tiredly, then headed for the shower. It was a tight fit, yet the clean feeling he got from the steaming hot water, was worth the contortionistic things he made his body do.

Several minutes later, when he had showered, dried off, and slipped into the pants he wore to sleep in, he came out to ask Quinn if she wanted to snack and watch something on her PADD or if she just wanted to turn in. Instead of her playing tiles, he found her laid out on the floor so that she could look out the windows out back of the little house. She had propped her shoulders and head up, allowing her to comfortably lay as she watched the stars.

Despite the breathability of the air for his human crew, as well as Spock and I’errah, there was something about it that made the stars seem more blue and some more purple, than they appeared on Earth. The sky itself looked a bit pinkish-purple, rather than the deep purple-black he was accustomed to in Iowa. Moving to sit beside her, Kirk came close enough to share her pillows to prop up as well. It was a beautiful view.

“I hadn’t a night off to enjoy the stars, since before I got assigned to Yorktown. Forgot how much I enjoyed it.”

“Never were any good at navigating by them.”

“Never claimed I was. That’s what I had you for.”

Jim smiled.

“Were they pretty, back in Ireland?”

“Even more beautiful than they are from here.”

“Not that you’re prejudiced, or anything?”

“Of course not. An Irishman only speaks the truth about her beautiful home.”

Sometimes Jim was sure that she put Scotty’s and Pavel’s national pride, to shame. She was more on Bones and Spock’s level. Kirk wasn’t ashamed of Iowa, nor of his father’s Irish, French, English, and Nordic heritage, he just couldn’t keep up to the levels of national pride- or state pride, in Bones’s case and species pride for Spock, of his friends.

Scooting a little closer, Jim leaned his head till it would have looked like he was resting it on Quinn’s shoulder. He felt her smile against the top of his scalp. Warmth radiated off of her and seeped down into his bones the way the shower water only attempted to.

For a long moment, neither spoke. They simply enjoyed the pleasure of each other’s company, the alien music, and the foreign sky. These were the moments, should he be lucky enough to live to an age where he would be put out to pasture, that he would hold onto. The times that didn’t make it into history books or captain’s logs.

The chats with his crew in the mess, chess games with Spock, bickering with Bones, stargazing with Quinn. Tea and cards with Uhura, or listening to Sulu’s latest proud boast over a plant he had been nursing. Walking the halls of the Enterprise at 3AM to listen to her hum, hearing Scotty and Chekov going back and forth about the best coolant, or watching his crew reuniting with loved ones at the gates when they started a shore leave.

Those were the moments he would hold close in the years to come, when he was nolonger a Captain of a starship and he nolonger went on adventures in space to where no other earthlings had gone. He made sure to get as many of those as possible, knowing how precious they were.

For now though, he was still a Captain and he still had Civil War level problems to solve. He smiled. He might miss a little sleep and be a little more tired tomorrow, however this was worth it. An hour of stargazing with an amazing, beautiful woman, his crew enjoying a peaceful evening nearby, and everything quiet and still for the moment.

“Wonder if they have stories about their stars like we do?”

Quinn nodded.

“Uhura says they do.”

Kirk kissed her shoulder.

“Good. Maybe I can get them to tell me a few tomorrow. Perhaps there is something there I can use to help with negotiations. And if not, I love a good story.”

“You love the stars.”

He shrugged.

“Starship Captain. Comes with the job.”

Quinn turned her head, whispering almost in a conspiratorial tone, “No, born among them, Jim.”

He smiled. It had gotten easier, over the years, to talk that with those closest to him. Uhura would never mention it, nor would Spock. Usually it was Bones who brought up Jim’s having been born out in the Black. Quinn rarely mentioned it. She had a point though, with his father plunging the Kelvin to a blazing end, chaos of survivors escaping the attack, and his brother tucked away with a kindly security officer several rooms away, Jim had breathed his first breath among the stars.

Settling back against Quinn’s shoulder, he let himself think about it. What those old Greek heroes would think of someone being born among those constellations of heroes and gods, to start their life up there rather than have their life commemorated by them. Maybe someday he would look up what star had been closest to the shuttle he was born on, at the time of his birth, and see if it was part of any constellation depicting some alien hero’s journey.

**Snapshot B**

Bones had definitely had one, or two, too many as he sat there in the little bar in Harristown Space Port. It was basically Yorktown on a budget. So to his thinking, a smaller, more fragile version of the giant snowglobe. He hated it, although it did have one redeeming value. Small bars that served good whiskey.

Across from him, the new doctor of the Enterprise, was passed out next to her empty glass. She had warned him she did not have much of a tolerance, but after the week they had preceding this shore leave Jim miraculously got them, neither of them were in a hurry to be awake, sober, or able to actually dream. Black out drunk was the best they could hope for.

They had lost seven men during the last away-mission, and four of them on the operating table. One had died before they could get him to the OR, one had died on the planet from a shot to the back, and the first had died in Jim’s arms. She was new to the Enterprise and had celebrated her 21st birthday only a few weeks before arriving on their ship.

Once Bones had finished saving those who were able to be saved, he had come in to find Jim sitting in the hall, awaiting news of those Bones, Chapel, and Erin had been working on. His tunic was stained with blood, not all of it Jim’s. Someone had given him a cloth to wipe his hands, yet the his nails still showed where the blood had dried under them before he could get clean.

Worst of all, he had noticed two things he did not remember seeing that morning before Jim left with the away team. Black bags the size of thumbs under Jim’s eyes, and grey flecks throughout his thick mane of hair. It was as if his friend and captain had aged a decade in the hours since he left. Not that there weren’t strange planets where time got a little iffy, however Bones knew the cause.

Guilt. No one ever did better at making every calamity their own fault, than James T. Kirk. No matter how many times Bones, Spock, Uhura, Quinn, or Scotty explained to him that being in Starfleet, being in Security, or being on a ship with a five-year mission such as theirs, came with risks that they all knew about and all knowingly signed up for anyway, Jim still made it his fault. His responsibility. His failure. He took them down there, he did not see the warning signs in time, he did not get them all back to the ship alive and in the same number of pieces they left in.

As the chief medical officer, Bones knew the feeling all too well. He felt the same every time some unfortunate soul came across his table and he wasn’t able to save them. He felt it every time he got there too late to even get the person to medical. He felt it every time he was on an away mission and the tools he had, the training he received, and all the medical knowledge between him and his gadgets, weren’t enough to save someone.

He and Jim had sat there, a long moment passing before Bones could work up words. Jim, to his credit, didn’t push. Despite how he was beating himself up inside, he was still aware enough to know Bones wasn’t fairing any better. He had told his friend how many they lost, who had survived, how soon they would be back to work, and who was already cleared. Jim had nodded numbly.

“I’errah said she will help me craft the letter to I’ofra’s parents. There are some customs about informing families of the loved one’s death on their homeworld, and they are so new to the Federation that there isn’t much literature on their customs or religion.”

Bones sighed, letting his head fall back against the wall.

“She really is a kind girl, doesn’t surprise me she offered. When the announcement was made about who we lost, she came to say a prayer over I’ofra. It was a prayer to help the Guardians find I’ofra in the blackness of space. That way they could bring her back to Os’iem. Heaven, from what I gather.”

Jim nodded. He didn’t much resemble the kid on that shuttle, aside from the amount of blood and bruising on his face. Sometimes Bones swore he saw Jim with bruises, blood, broken bones, and burns more often than he saw him totally healed and healthy.

Now, sitting at the bar with Erin, Bones kept seeing I’ofra and the six others. The one had his body brought up, with only the fatal injury to his back marring his skin. The rest of the dead had not been so fortunate. Or really, their families hadn’t. Two would need a lot of work to have open-casket funerals. I’ofra was a mess, though I’errah informed them that her people did not do burials or funerals.

The closest relatives, or partners and friends in the case of someone without family, would burn the body at the bottom of a very hot pyre. Then, when the fire was done and the embers gone cold, there would be a whole day spent in silence by the family, friends, partner, and a few others. When the two suns set for the night, there would be a party something akin to an Irish wake, where stories were shared and memories relived with loved ones, copious amounts of alcohol consumed, and the family would be given food, blankets, and other goods by the community to help make their lives a little easier while the wound was fresh.

Bones was thinking about the last funeral he attended back in Georgia, when he noticed someone sitting next to him. Then he noticed someone sitting across from him, next to Erin. Jim and Spock. Spock looked like he usually did, though perhaps a bit less stuck up and irritating. Jim looked tired enough to have pushed the Enterprise to port, but otherwise he looked well enough.

“Ready to go home, Bones?”

“No.”

Jim just nodded, motioning to a waitress for a round of coffee. She brought the drinks a moment later, a cup of items at the center of the table to doctor their drinks with. From the smell, Bones could already tell it was coffee made fresh for the last call. At least the place didn’t serve the stale, overcooked stuff a lot of these places had.

“My uncle Tim, he died about a year before I joined Starfleet. That was the last funeral I went to in Georgia. Family had a picnic after. Some might say it was morbid or creepy, but it was a chance to get everyone together. And all southern women think they can fix everything with food just like all us southern men think we can fix it with whiskey and maybe a cigar.”

“I’errah told me something interesting about her people.”, Jim interjected. “They do not have a word for mourning. They don’t have bereavement, or mourning periods. She said they have a word, the most direct translation being ‘soul wound’. She told me that they view caring about someone as giving them a connection from their soul to yours, so you may feel their pain and their joy in life. And when they die, it leaves a wound since their soul left to go to Os’iem. That’s why everyone is quiet, for the day, to allow them some peace for their new wound. And the party is to send the person off, with all the love and light you can send with them, but also to help the family the way you might give ice cream to a kid who just had surgery or you might bring someone a puzzle when they are laid up.”

Without needing anyone to explain it, Bones knew what Jim was doing. And damn him, it was working. Of course, I’errah had likely been attempting the same when she told all this to Jim. As fiercely as Jim loved his crew, they loved him right back with the same kind of fervor.

“I don’t want to go back to Med bay, Jim.”

His friend nodded, considering for a moment.

“What if you stayed somewhere away from med bay?”

Bones nodded, downing the last of his coffee in a scalding gulp. He looked to see Spock had yet to touch his and was attempting to rouse Erin. Jim was keeping an eye on Bones, though he was sure to be keeping track of Spock’s efforts with Erin. Erin had been the one to work on I’ofra.

When Erin barely mumbled at all of Spock’s attempts to wake her, Jim moved to switch places with his first officer, scooping Erin up so she could lean against Jim’s shoulder. A moment later, Quinn and Chapel appeared, probably having been a little behind because Quinn had been sent to get Chapel, who had gone somewhere a bit more upscale to drink away her sorrows.

“Here, I got her. You two take care of Len.”

Chapel was clearly still operating well enough to suggest she had consumed very little alcohol. Someday Bones was going to have to ask her how she managed. Between she and Quinn, they were able to get Erin to stand, an arm slung over each of the other two women’s shoulders with them holding her hands and her waist as they guided her out. Jim and Spock turned to Bones then.

“Your turn.”

Bones nodded, getting up with only slightly unsteady legs. Briefly he wondered if he were simply too tired to be drunk and he had skipped straight to slightly hung over. He certainly had the headache for it. Spock, thankfully, kept at his usual distance while Jim instantly had an arm out, helping Bones steady himself. Then, he saw how Bones was swaying and took Bones’s left arm, and moving it over his own shoulders, to keep his best friend upright.

Spock lead the way, knowing where they were going. They did not return to the Enterprise. Instead, they went to a nearby hotel. It was small and not exactly 5-star but it was close, it had a hot shower, hot breakfast in the morning, and didn’t require a reservation. Jim checked Bones into one room, with himself staying to make sure Bones was alright, while Quinn and Chapel checked Erin into a second room, and Chapel was going to stay with her.

Jim figured that between he and Chapel, Bones and Erin ought to be alright. They’d make sure the two hungover doctors got something to drink before letting them sleep, then force them to drink more water and eat some protein in the morning at the breakfast. Once they were functional humans again, he and Chapel could take them back to the Enterprise.

Jim watched Bones for a couple minutes as the doctor rinsed his face with cold water in the tiny bathroom and then chugged a large glass of room temperature water. Refilling it, he came to sit next to Jim on the Queen-sized bed. The leather jacket and boots were gone, leaving only the battered white T-shirt and faded jeans, which only served to make Bones look more like a trucker from Georgia than an overworked physician on Starfleet’s flagship.

Sometimes, Jim wondered if it was worth it. Worth the danger, worth the emotional toll on his friends, worth all the fights with Starfleet, worth all the times he had to send remains home to a family barely a year out from watching their loved one’s graduation from Starfleet. Being out in space, meeting new people, piloting new courses. Was it really worth it?

“Jim, I know what you’re thinking.”

“Really? Bourbon make you telepathic now?”

“Whiskey, and no. You’re thinking that the cost of you being out in the stars you were born to, is far too high. That you bury too many guys and gals in red shirts that still smell like the Academy. Well I’ve got news for ya. If they weren’t under you, they’d be under someone else. Someone else who doesn’t tear himself apart every time he’s gotta write one of those letters. Someone who isn’t willing to take a spear to the chest to protect the guy who got here two days ago and doesn’t even know where the bathroom is yet.”

Bones let out a sigh, a long one. Jim felt the weariness of it just before he mirrored the action. Bones was one of the few people who could have that effect on him.

“You’re in that chair because Pike was right, you belong there. There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do for your crew. You have done the impossible, on numerous occasions, for your crew. They are better for your being in that chair, than if you weren’t. So before you go writing a letter of resignation or anything stupid like that, think about some of those jokers you outdid and ran circles around back at the Academy and what kind of captains they must be when they couldn’t be bothered to remember their lab partner’s name.”

“You sure whiskey doesn’t make you a mind-reader, Bones?”

“Nah, kid.”, Bones drawled as he let himself fall back into the bed.

“Just know you too well.”

It was true, he thought, smiling back at his inebriated friend.

“That you do, Bones. That you do.”

“Jim?”

“Yeah.”

“Thanks for dragging me along.”

“Now I _know_ you’re drunk.”

“Hell yeah. Wouldn’t talk this nonsense of I were sober. I’d just hypo you until you were thinking straight again, and that’d be the end of it.”

“I’m glad you don’t drink and hypo.”

“Shut up. I’m trying to sleep.”

He kicked Jim’s hip for good measure, earning a chuckle. Jim rose from the bed and went over to divest himself of his own jacket, hoodie, and shoes. Grabbing a blanket, he went to settle on the sofa when he heard a growl.

“Get over here, I ain’t sprawled out that far.”

“If you throw up on me, I will give you Delta shift for a month.”

“No promises.”

Jim just shook his head as he walked over with his blanket, settling into the bed, and pulling the blanket over his legs. His head had barely hit the pillow when he heard Bones’s snoring. Jim smiled. It was almost like the Academy days when Bones would crash after finals and Jim would be drunk, and they’d end up asleep on a rooftop or out in a field somewhere with just each other, occasionally Quinn joined. Particularly after Bones told her about how drunk Jim used to get on his birthday.

“Goodnight Bones.”. he muttered before looking out the tiny window to see the port area that the Enterprise was docked on. As much as he still wanted to kick himself for every decision he had made during their last away-mission, yet in his gut, he knew Bones was right. Jim would do anything for his crew, they were his responsibility. They all knew the risk when they stepped up at Starfleet graduation. He had known them, better than most, when he sneaked aboard the Enterprise with Bones. He had to trust that his crew knew the risks, they knew their jobs, and they showed up every day to do those jobs, despite the risks.


	5. Taking Turns

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Kirk and Spock endanger themselves to save the lives of hundreds of others, it is up to Bones, Quinn, Sulu, and Scotty to save them. Spock's unique genetic makeup helps him, while Kirk is not so lucky. Kirk hates that his crew risk themselves so greatly, for his sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I still don't own STAR TREK, sadly. Most of these characters, places, ships, etc. are not mine, I'm just borrowing them for a little while.  
> No serious mentions of blood, gore, or detailed violence. Does include characters being infected with deadly toxins and monsters jumping out of the darkness.  
> Thank you for reading! Please, enjoy!

**Snapshot A**

Bones hated this. All of it. From the moment they had received the emergency transmission, a bad feeling had taken root in the pit of his stomach. Six hours later, Spock and Kirk had decided that in a choice of letting a whole city be wiped out by a poorly designed weapon or allow themselves to be the only two casualties – they chose to sacrifice themselves.

There had been a containment chamber, however it had been meant more to protect those inside from contaminants outside. Which meant it was made to hold a group of people, and required two people to close the hatches. Which meant that once they had hauled the heavy, cumbersome bomb to the chamber, they both had to stay inside to get it closed, keeping the contamination to a minimum. Two lives instead of 3,000 plus.

The average person, when exposed to Xerzkin IV, had approximately 34-37 hours left to live. If that person received immediate intervention, that could be stretched to 40-41 hours. With Vulcans, they were somewhat less susceptible. 46-48 hours was expected, a little over 50 hours if they received that same immediate intervention.

Exposure had occurred ten hours ago. The Enterprise would take 89 hours and 14 minutes to get to the nearest station that had an antidote. The planet Corisand, which had a plant that was a known antidote to Xerzkin IV, was 20 hours away.

Bones had never hated math more than he did right now. He watched his two best friends, both fighting for their lives. Spock in a bio-bed to the left, was conscious though clearly in pain. Uhura, dressed in all the proper protective gear, stood in vigil beside the half-Vulcan, alternating between meditating with him and allowing him to dictate orders about what was to be done in the event Bones wasn’t able to save them.

Jim, laying in the bio-bed to the right, had been unconscious for the past hour. There were some drugs that could be used to slow the progress of the toxins and relieve some of the symptoms. Unfortunately for Jim, and so typically for their Captain, he had an allergy to three of them. The of the most effective choices. Bones had given him a hypo to knock him out when Jim could nolong hide how much pain he was in, as he experienced the sensation of someone burning his skin from the inside out.

While Scotty and Sulu did their best to make the Enterprise break scientific rules and fly faster than any starship had ever gone before, Bones decided to make the most of the time. Chapel was more than capable of doing the same things Bones would do to buy Jim and Spock as much time as possible. Bones would stay in his small lab and make sure everything was as ready as possible.

Sulu had sent some herbs from two of the plants he grew personally. One helped with swelling, aches, and irritation such as itching or burning sensations. Thankfully, Jim wasn’t allergic to it and McCoy had used it several times to help him when the idiot touched something he shouldn’t have or was downwind of the wrong plant, and came back with a rash.

The other plant could be combined with the curative herbs from Corisand, to help reverse the damage already done and halt any further damage. Bones made sure to fix the first so that Chapel could administer it as-needed, to Jim and Spock. Spock had already declined the first dose, insisting Jim was worse off than himself. What burned was that he was not-wrong.

Working quickly and as steadily as he could, Bones did his best not to think about time. He purposefully ignored all clocks, he avoided looking at things that denoted the passing of time, and he kept his mind stuck to the task at hand. He tried to do as his mother used to bid, every time she caught him cramming before a test, that if you had done your best and done all that was possibly- worrying would not help anything, just make your heart work harder.

Just as he was calculating the measurements for the 18th time, he heard a knock at the door. Looking up, he found a very serious, grim looking Quinn looking back at him. She wore her survival gear, the blue and gold a striking difference from her red tunic. She looked like a battler.

“Ready to pilot out in ten.”

Bones nodded, then reached for his bag. He had made sure, hours ago, that he would be ready to go in a blink. Quinn gave him a quick nod, then turned on her heel. Bones followed quickly behind and made sure to pretend he didn’t notice the way Quinn’s dark eyes lingered over Jim’s too-pale form, through the barrier that kept Jim and Spock quarantined.

It took only a few minutes to get to the hanger, where Chekov stood beside their shuttle. Bones always hated these shuttles, but being that there was a war going on down below and one of the weapons was a disrupter that caused all manner of problems with their transporters, the shuttle was the only way to go.

“I vish you vould let me go, Quinn. I could be helpful.”

Quinn gave him a quick smile.

“If we run into trouble, you’re probably the one who’ll have to figure out how to disable their disrupter and get us the hell out.”

He nodded, glumly.

“I will stay on the comm. Just in case you need me.”

Quinn nodded to the younger officer.

“We’ll be in and out.”

Chekov looked up to Bones, and Bones gave a nod.

“In and out, you’ll barely have time to miss us.”

To his credit, the younger man didn’t joke or argue. He merely stepped aside to let them pass, handing them each a back up cell. Everyone knew Quinn carried extras. They also knew how dangerous this was. The Enterprise was already closer to Corisand than they should have been, and would float further away until called for by Quinn and Bones at the conclusion of their Snatch & Grab mission.

Once inside the shuttle, Bones sat back and let Quinn handle things. He could pilot, if he absolutely had to. Quinn, however, was confident as a pilot and had trained a lot more than Bones for the job.

“Last chance to stay on the ship.”

“Not a chance.”

She gave a hint of a smile, flicking a switch that seemed to make a bunch of lights come on along the dash. Bones couldn’t concentrate on the mechanisms of the shuttle. He was too worried about time. They were currently 30 hours and 27 minutes since Jim and Spock were infected. He estimated that Spock had another 25-27 hours to spare. Jim had 7, if they were lucky.

They were flying soon enough, through the black of space and descending down the wild purple jungle below. The air was breathable for humans, if you had been properly treated beforehand. Bones and Quinn had each taken a hypo to dose each other, once they touched down. It would give them three hours. Assuming they didn’t exert themselves too much and burn through the serum.

“We’ll get this plant and have you back to the ship soon, Bones.”

“Good.”

“Why did you come? Sulu could have identified the plant, I’m sure.”

“Yes, he could have. But if you’re gonna use it to make an antidote, it has to be gathered just so and stored a certain way, and I can’t risk Sulu getting a quick crash-course, for this. Although, I may have to teach a class after this is all over. To help ensure Chapel and I aren’t the only ones who can do this.”

“Good idea.”

Five minutes later, Quinn had found a small clearing to land in. They each gave the other the required hypo, then Bones grabbed his bag of gear and Quinn slid the two extra cells into the small bag she wore on her back. Disembarking, they were met with a wave of thick, moist air that reeked of something sickeningly sweet. Every leaf was some shade of purple, ranging from pale pastels to vibrant neons.

“Feel like you had some Special Brownies yet?”, Quinn tried to joke.

“Just about. Come on. We’re looking for something that looks like poison ivy’s trippy, spiky cousin.”

The two had not made it ten feet from the shuttle when they heard the first barrage of phaser fire. The locals were using somewhat antiquated tech, given the financial devastation of their decades-long civil war. Which meant the shots were far noisier than what Bones was accustomed to.

“Come on, Sulu says it should be growing on the west-side of these trees. Something about soil dampness and acidity. I admit, I wasn’t listening all that closely, aside from the Where To Look and details about the plant’s appearance.”

He obediently followed her, three steps behind. It only took a few minutes to get to the area Sulu had described. However, the field was much larger than either had expected and worse yet, mostly cast in shadow, thanks to the copious number of tall trees at the edges of the field.

“You go left, I’ll go right. We’ll work our way forward and move a couple feet closer to each other with each swing, till we find something.”, Quinn planned.

“Good.”, Bones responded.

And so, they began their sweeping. Methodically moving through the field, eyes scanning for the curative plant. The whole time, Quinn kept thinking about time. They were now over 30 hours out from when Jim and Spock were infected. From what she followed of Chapel and Bones’s discussion, Spock had over a day left for them to get a cure together and dose him. Jim only had a few hours. Less than a shift.

Quinn was never fond of the feeling of helplessness. She liked it even less when people she cared about, were the ones she was helpless to save. Refocusing, she reminded herself of her new mantra. “We will find the plant. Bones will make the cure. Jim will be ok. Spock will be ok.” Over and over, in her head, trying to convince herself and to stop her worrying.

“Got it!”, Bones called out.

Spinning backward, Quinn spotted him triumphantly holding up the little plant. Her face split with a grin.

“Thank Heavens. Get to gathering!”

She quickly moved closer, keeping an eye on the perimeter. They were still in the middle of a war zone, and even in the dark, that didn’t make them invisible. Then she spotted it. A war-crawler. Capable of covering most terrain and of carrying 15 soldiers, plus equipment.

“Bones, hurry up. We’re about to get company.”

The doctor did as ordered, hurriedly pulling up the plants, roots and all, and sliding them into a slim box, careful not to damage the leaves or roots. Once he had enough to make the box almost full, he snapped it closed and looked up to Quinn.

“Come on.”

She turned, taking off, knowing he would follow. There were a few trees closer together than the rest and well shaded. She intended to use them for cover. Additionally, the grass nearby was tall enough to help hide them.

They were almost there when a large, bear-like creature stepped out from behind the stand of trees. Proof that it was good cover.

“Run left!”

She barely had time to check to make sure Bones was doing as he was told before they were being fired at from the war-crawler. Though if they were shooting at she and Bones, or the large beast, it was hard to say.

“The shuttle’s that way!”, Bones called, gesturing to the same direction as the angry, whaling beast in their wake.

“So is that man-eating mass! RUN!”

Checking, she saw that the crawler had turned to face she and Bones’s trail, however the occupants were too busy firing at the crazed, wounded beast to pay she and Bones any mind. Taking a chance, she slowed and did a quick survey. There were some rocks that, hopefully, didn’t have surprises behind them as nasty as what had been behind the trees. They should have also been dense enough to block the heat signatures of two humans, from the locals’ tech.

Making herself go back to full speed, she was still a bit behind Bones. When he got to the rocks, he stopped, turning to face her. Quinn waved him on, yet he waited for her. Slowing as she came up beside him, Quinn panted between words.

“We’ll go… around.. the rocks… head back… to the shuttle and.. go home.”

Bones nodded, then suddenly shoved her to the ground as a blaster round burned a hole in the rocks behind where Bones had been standing. Quinn rolled over, shoving Bones down and retrieving her phaser. She quickly returned fire. Judging by the scream, she hit home.

“On the count of three, I want you to get up, run around those rocks, and head back to the shuttle. Comm me when you get there, or if anything is blocking the way.”

“What about you?”

“I’ll be right behind you.”

“I can’t fly the shuttle.”

“Sure you can. Jim taught you. Count of three.”

“You’re coming too, right?”

“Yes, now shut up and wait for my count.”

Bones moved to be up on his hand and shins, ready to pounce up upon her count. Quinn leveled her gaze, bringing her phaser up.

“3.”

Bones took a deep breath, released, then another.

“2.”

He raised his head.

“1. GO!”

Springing up, he ran off around behind the rocks at top speed. His track times at the Academy were sluggish compared to how he pumped his legs now. Soon, he had cleared the rocks and was tearing through the high grass of another open field, headed for the shuttle. He heard, more than saw the shots being exchanged between Quinn and the soldiers.

The shuttle quickly came into view and McCoy leapt the last few feet, to make it into the safety of the shuttle. Once inside, he flipped open his communicator and commed Quinn.

“I’m here. Your turn.”

“Get out of here, send another shuttle back for me in a bit.”

“No. We leave together.”

“Bones, please? Just go. I’ve got these guys on a good cat and mouse game and you’ve only got 6 and a half hours, at most. Go!”

“Not without you.”

“Bones, please, just go!”

Bringing up the controls, Bones muttered many a swear words and old prayers as he got the controls booted up. He did know how to use the scanners to find someone. Locking Quinn’s details into the computer, he let it search for her while he got the bucket of bolts into the air. It was rocky and nausea-inducing, but it worked.

“I’m coming, Quinn.”

He managed to get near enough to be able to see her easily as she ran. She was limping, though still running at near top-speed for her. He and Jim always could beat her on the track, though neither could beat her as climbing or hiding.

“Why not just hide, Quinn?”, he muttered.

Then he felt it. The shuttle jerked at something made contact with the right-rear corner of the shuttle. He could smell some smoke but the alarms suggested he was still flight-worthy. Then he heard Quinn on the comms.

“Count to five, then duck hard left.”

“Quinn, what are you thinking?”

“JUST DO IT!”

Bones kept the comm on, counting down so she could hear him.

“5…4…3…2…1.”

He banked hard to the left, then the scanners informed him of an explosion behind him, on the ground. Spinning the shuttle around, he saw that Quinn had taken out the crawler. One well-aimed shot. Maybe two. It had been quick and now the thing was a ruin of flames and twisted metal.

Bones put the shuttle down close to Quinn, letting her run the last few yards to the shuttle to keep it away from flaming and minor explosions coming from the wreckage. As she ran closer, Bones could make out the charred section of her uniform, running a dark horizontal line across her upper thigh. Another was still smoking from her right shoulder. She had been hit from behind.

All-but falling in, Quinn landed flat on the floor. When she got up, Bones half-expected her to have a broken nose or split lip from the fall. Instead, she barely had a few hairs out of place from her braid pinned up to the back of her head. She slid into the pilot’s seat as he moved to the gunner’s seat.

“Let’s go home.”

The flight home was, thankfully, uneventful. They had enough to worry about, thanks to the smoke filling the cabin and the sparks coming from the right-rear corner. Due to half the instruments being burned out, the landing was a little bumpy as Quinn had to do it all through being guided on the comms. Then both of them spilled out as quickly as they could, gasping for clean air.

Chekov and Scotty were there, helping them up. Then Uhura appeared, rushing down the stairs to get to them. Bones rasped, “Jim? Spock?”

“Spock’s meditating. Says the pain is still tolerable. He’s lying but he won’t let them knock him out yet.”

Quinn coughed, “Jim?”

“He’s started having seizures about 15 minutes ago. Chapel had to give him something to loosen his muscles cause they were locking up.”

“Scotty, you and Uhura get Bones up to Med Bay. Go.”

Neither argued with the Chief Security Officer, grabbing an arm each and dragging him off. Chekov, meanwhile, looked over at Quinn as she coughed some more.

“Ve should get you up there too, after all ze smoke you inhaled.”

She nodded, waving him off for a second as she nearly doubled-over.

“Come on.”, he offered her a hand and she let him lead her up, stopping every so often to lean against the wall as she coughed hard enough to bring tears to her eyes.

“Did you get it?”, he asked halfway up.

“Yes. Bones had it.”

“Good. Uhura has been keeping Scotty and I updated. It vas not looking good.”

She nodded, not-trusting her voice again. They made their way, slowly, to the Med Bay. Quinn just hoped she and Bones had made it in time, that he would be able to synthesize something for Jim and Spock, before the disease ran it’s full course.

**Snapshot B**

Jim woke with a start. Heart thundering in his ears, head spinning, and lungs spasming.

“Jim!”

Bones. He knew that voice. Bright lights. Med Bay. His throat was raw and his lips felt like someone had given them a rub down with course sandpaper.

It wasn’t until he felt Bones’s hands moving him back into the bio bed that it came flooding back. The away mission, the bomb, the safety tank, Spock helping him close themselves in, then Scotty beaming them up with everyone in the hazmat suits and all sorts of gear.

“Spock?”, he asked.

Bones wasn’t wearing a hazmat suit and Jim wasn’t dead, so he made the leap that Bones had fixed them. Again.

“Right over there.”

Jim craned his neck to look at the row of beds behind his. Spock was sitting up in the bed, his eyes closed, and looking more wrung out than Jim could remember seeing his first officer look in a long while. Uhura, as expected, was sitting on the edge of Spock’s bed, reading softly to him. It was a thing they did when he was hurt or sick enough to have to stay in Med bay.

Jim nodded. Looking over, he noticed something else. Bones’s right eyebrow had a small, semi-healed gash over it. He was also favoring his right shoulder.

“What happened to you?”

Bones paused, as if he had heard something that didn’t make sense, then he shrugged his left shoulder and went back to checking Jim’s vitals from the bed. It didn’t take a genius. They had been days away from the nearest Federation facility that could have treated he and Spock, but Corisand was less than a full day away. Especially if Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov put their heads together.

“You went to Corisand.”

Bones nodded.

“Federation ships aren’t supposed to go there. Not with that civil war and all.”

“I’m aware.”, Bones muttered as he fished out something out for another hypo.

“You risked your neck to save us.”

Bones looked up, “Jim, before you start, don’t.”

Letting out a breath, he was truly too tired to fight with his doctor, chief medical officer, and especially too tired to fight with his best friend. Xerzkin IV was nothing to triffle with.

“Spock gonna be alright?”

“Of course, with his half-Vulcan physiology, he didn’t go down the tubes as rapidly as you did. And, unlike some people, he isn’t allergic to half the things we used to stabilize his nervous system while you were busy dying over here.”

“Sorry, Bones.”

His best friend waved him off, retrieving a hypo.

“Don’t worry about it, Jim. I have several unique patients on this ship, you and Spock are only two of them.”

Turning away, he saw an image that made his heart skid to a sudden stop, then hammer. Quinn. Under the ReGen machine, with her head turned to face away from the rest of Med bay.

From the best he could tell at this angle, it looked like her ribs or shoulder might be what had been injured, although he could see that there was a dressing on her leg as well, and her hands were bandaged.

Bones looked over at her, answering Jim’s yet-unasked questions.

“She insisted on going down with me. Said it was easier to sneak two people around than ten, and she had experience in this kind of thing. I think she just didn’t trust me to listen to anyone else if they told me to run, duck, or hide.”

“What happened?”

“I found the plant and she was watching. We were spotted, so we ran…straight into some kind of local monster creature that wanted us for a late evening snack. She told me to run while she laid down cover fire, then followed. We got shot at, the monster got killed, she sent me to the shuttle meaning to cover me, then ordered me away to get the plant back up here and send someone else back down to pick her up.”

“And you disobeyed her orders.”

“Of course, I did! I wasn’t going to leave her down there, mostly in the dark, with some half-dead monster and a bunch of crazed soldiers, chasing after her, in a place no Federation officer is supposed to be.”

Jim looked back at Quinn, letting out a long breath. He wasn’t worth all the danger his friends put themselves in for his sake.

“I spun back around, meaning to snatch her up quick and fly back here. Got nailed in the rear by the soldiers, then she gave me directions, I followed them, she blew the soldiers to smithereens, I picked her up, and she flew us back here. I sometimes forget she’s actually a pretty good pilot.”

That was Quinn. She wasn’t usually one to brag, except to he and Bones, and even that was in jest. She would never let on to most people that she was skilled at a lot of things. Gifted even.

“She took a shot to her upper right shoulder, from behind. Another across the top of her left thigh. Once I finish on her shoulder, I’ll get her leg done, then she can come sit out here with you. Maybe you can wake back up in time to eat with her, like a real meal instead of the sustenance we’ve been pushing into you.”

“You ordering me back to sleep, Doctor?”

“No, your eyelids are doing that all on their own, Captain. Now sleep.”, Bones added with a light shove to get Jim to lay back. Jim did as bid, with one last look over to Uhura and Spock. He couldn’t see Spock while laying down, though he could see Uhura’s shoulder and hear her softly reading in Vulcan. He smiled.

A little while later, he woke as he heard something clang. Looking, he spotted Bones and M’Benga trying to calm Quinn. Jim moved, attempting to get to his feet, though they were barely moving as he worked to get up, every muscle in his body feeling like it weighted four times the usual amount and burning to boot.

“QUINN! Quinn!”, Bones called, “You’re in Med bay. Just breathe.”

She settled, her defensive pose faltering and her eyes clearing. Every time they had to sedate her to work on her, she woke up thinking she was still wherever she had most-recently been that had been dangerous. It was something Bones, M’Benga, Chapel, Spock, and Jim had all gotten used to.

Finally, once M’Benga had moved off to go back to his reports, Jim could reach out to Quinn. He held out his hand, saying her name only once. It was enough. Her still-bandaged hand flew out to catch his, and she offering him a tired smile.

“You finally decided to wake up?”

“You threw a tantrum while I was asleep.”

Quinn rolled her eyes and Bones chuckled. Thanks to his own romance, he nolonger grouched as much about Jim and Quinn’s teasing, though he still rolled his eyes, fake-gagged, and complained about Uhura and Spock. Mostly to annoy Spock.

“Well, I’ll let you two have some privacy. Remember, no hanky-panky in my Med Bay.”

Unable to help himself, Jim grinned as he joked, “What, that a Doctors Only privilege?”

Bones shot back his own grin, “In fact it is, says so somewhere in a book I read. Now, if you two can do without me for a few minutes, I’m going to go see to Ensign Parson’s burns from sticking his hands in the steaming hot tubes, despite the clear signs to NOT stick his hands in there. Your meals should be up shortly.”

Bones walked off, leaving the two of them there, somewhat awkwardly stretched to hold hands between the beds. Knowing that he didn’t have to be directly on the bed for it to monitor him at this point, Jim pushed to get off and then had to pause beside the bed. He wasn’t as tired as he had been when he first woke up, though he still wasn’t back to normal.

“Jim, what are you thinking? Get back up in the bed!”

Instead, he shot her a grin and used the table between their beds to help guide himself over to her bedside. Without needing to be told, Quinn scooted over. He took the offered space, sitting one hip easily onto the side of the bed.

Quinn slid a little, resting her head against Jim’s shoulder. Despite their being in Med bay, it felt normal. She often let her head rest against his shoulder as she read reports and did her own paperwork, leaving him to do his. Their hands lay intertwined on Jim’s thigh.

“Bones told me what you did.”

“He was pretty darn brave, down there.”

“You two risked your lives for Spock and I.”

He felt a quick jab to his ribs, done with the flat part of her bent finger. It could have been worse.

“Hey!”

“Don’t.”

“What?”

“Don’t go down that dark road of self-recrimination, dark thoughts, blame games, guilt, and other assorted things in the realm of psychiatry. If Bones and I had been the ones who got infected with some rare, deadly toxin, you and Spock would have done exactly what Bones and I did, to save us. It’s what we do here. We all take turns saving each other’s bacon.”

She knew him too well. Granted, Bones had offered similar advice, when Jim first woke up. No matter what they said, he could not keep himself from thinking that it was his fault. If he had been paying more attention to the scene, if he had been smarter about the bomb.

Another nudge, this time less forceful, hit his ribs. Looking over, he saw two dark green eyes looking back at him. Looking through him, really.

“What did I just say?”

Jim tried to smile, to joke, but she arched her eyebrow and he knew it was useless. His charms had never worked on her the way they did most everyone else. She, Bones, Spock, and Uhura were immune.

They sat like that for a while, neither talking even when the lunches arrived. Chapel came to check on them and kindly didn’t mention how they were still curled up in one bed. Uhura stopped by for a moment, while Chapel checked on Spock’s vitals- as he confused the bio beds with his unique physiology, so the doctors often checked him personally. Especially M’Benga.

“You two look like you’re recovering well.”, she said with a smile.

“Spock okay?”, Quinn asked.

“Yeah. Christine said she might let him go in a couple hours, as long as he promises to stay off the bridge until McCoy clears him.”

Jim smiled, “Well then he’ll stay off the bridge until you’ve heard McCoy clear him.”

Uhura’s grin was positively evil.

“Of course. And Quinn,”, she turned her head to face the Chief Security Officer, “next time you go to a planet in the middle of a war zone, to get medicine to save Spock and the Captain here, I’m going with you. I could have stayed on the shuttle and come to retrieve you two when you were done.”

“Maybe. I wanted to keep it small. Easier to sneak in two people rather than a larger number, though you’re right. Three wouldn’t have been hard.”

“I appreciate your reasoning, Quinn. But I know the languages down there. McCoy says you were working hard to make sure he got back, even if you didn’t get right back.”

Quinn ducked her head down, using Jim as a bit of a shield.

“He was annoyed about it, but I assured him that it wasn’t personal. If we had been on a planet where the survival of the crew or of the away team, relied on my ability to translate – Quinn would have been protecting me the same way. Or how she protected Spock when we went to that planet where they thought Spock was a god, so it became up to him to finagle a way for all of us to leave, in peace.”

Jim held Quinn a little tighter. She had done several missions, since coming aboard, where it was just her and a couple other security team members, plus two other people. Sometimes she had done this where it was her, Jim, Spock, and the rest of the security team, ensuring that she and her team could maximize the protection for Spock and himself, during some tense negotiation.

One memorable mission, had seen she and Chapel go down to a planet that kept men as a lower class of citizen, yet were in need of Chapel’s medical expertise for a traveling diplomat who had been injured while playing a local sport during a week of trade negotiations. Quinn was one of the best Starfleet had, yet it did not stop Jim from worrying about her.

“I mean it Quinn, I want to come along next time. I’m not as good a pilot as Spock, but I’m still pretty good. I could be of use.”

“I’ve seen you in the sparring rings, Ny. I don’t doubt you’d be of use.”

Uhura smiled, “Just remember that for next time.”, she winked and then headed back to Spock.

For a while, Jim just sat there. Soon, Chapel would kick him out and make him return to his own bed, then order them both to sleep. Whether they wanted to or not.

“Quinn, do you remember a promise you made me?”

“Not to die on you. Yeah. I remember.”

“Just making sure.”

He felt her warm lips press against his pulse point, then she spoke softly for his ear only.

“I told you, Jim, we’re going to die together, of boredom, on Bones’s front porch. Probably with Bones and his wife right there beside us.”

“What about Spock and Uhura?”

“She’s younger than you and I, definitely younger than Spock and Bones. They’ll outlive us all.”

“You’ve thought it all out, then?”

“I’ve decided I’m not letting you, Bones, Uhura, Spock, or any of us die until we’re so old that we fart dust.”

He snorted.

“Nice plan.”

“Impossible, you mean but won’t say.”

Chapel walked in, smiling softly but her tone firm as she gave orders.

“Alright sir, out of that bed and back to your own. You two need sleep and those beds aren’t designed for two.”

“Or comfort.”, Jim teased as he stood up. Chapel offered him some help, holding his elbow as he made his way back to his bed. She let both of them cover up and waited a moment, before bidding them goodnight and bringing down the lights in their section. It was never truly dark in Med bay. Just very dim.

“Jim?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m glad I got demoted and transferred.”

“Me too.”


End file.
